Fiscal Stability Pact

In the margins of the European Council meeting on 1-2 March 2012, 25 European leaders signed the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance (47 KB)(Fiscal Stability Treaty). The basis of the treaty is golden fiscal rule under which the budget has to be balanced or in surplus.

The treaty will enter into force on 1 January 2013, if by that time 12 members of the euro area have ratified it. The Contracting States are to implement a balanced budget rule/golden fiscal rule in their legislation until 1 January 2014.

At the spring European Council meeting, EU heads of state or government also issued: